Court backlogs mean remand prisoners are often released directly from court without support, having waited so long for their sentencing date that they have served it, a government-commissioned report into prison capacity has revealed.

The independent prison capacity review by Dame Anne Owers offers recommendations to prevent prison capacity crises in the future. 

Owers, a former chief inspector of prisons concludes: ‘The rise in the remand population has largely been the result of court pressures over recent years.’ About a third of remanded prisoners are already convicted, but unsentenced’, she notes and 71% of those remanded in custody from crown courts received a custodial sentence in 2023.

‘Indeed a number are released directly from court when they finally get there, as they have already served their sentence on remand. This is supported by MoJ analysts,’ the review adds acknowledging the ‘detrimental impact’ on prisoners, and prisons, spending ‘very lengthy periods’ on remand.

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Officers at prisons visited during the review expressed concerns about the number of remand prisoners released directly from court. Those prisoners had no pre-release resettlement support and would have had no contact with offender managers while in prison.

In her report Owers says proposals have been made for alternative provision for those who are remanded because of their chaotic lifestyles or lack of secure accommodation. The Youth Justice Board is already piloting some such schemes for young people, she said. ‘A number of women’s centres around the country already offer alternative holistic support to women at risk of offending, and that model could be built on as an alternative to remand or bail supervision.'

However such provision 'would require a systematic approach to funding'.